TUSCALOOSA – Reliving the first Iron Bowl ever played in Auburn 25 years ago through players and coaches from both of those teams made me realize something.

Saturday will be the first Iron Bowl I've ever been to as a reporter.

I've covered the NBA Finals, college football national title games and bowl games, but this will be one of the biggest games I've ever attended as a journalist. I wasn't at last year's epic Iron Bowl because I went to my grandmother's funeral. She lived in West Virginia, but was ironically born in Alabama.

R.I.P. Love you. Miss you.

So I'm about to make a little personal history of my own, but then another thought came to mind.

In my almost two years of working for the Montgomery Advertiser, I've never seen Alabama actually lose a game in person. I was in California preparing for the Auburn's national title game against Florida State when Oklahoma beat the Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

This season, I was in Auburn getting ready to watch the Tigers play LSU when Alabama lost at Ole Miss.

Alabama came very close to falling to Arkansas and LSU in my presence, but pulled out a 14-13 squeaker in Fayetteville and a 20-13 overtime win in Baton Rouge.

The Tide is 17-0 in games I've covered for the Advertiser. Now back in the day, I watched Peyton Manning lead Tennessee past Alabama in 1997, but I was a sidebar reporter for the Jackson Sun.

So I'm wondered will I finally see the Tide fall in person in my time in Montgomery.

Maybe, but I doubt it.

Auburn (8-3, 4-3 SEC) is certainly talented enough to stun the second-ranked Crimson Tide (10-1, 6-1) at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Gus Malzahn runs the type offense that has given Alabama problems. The Tigers spread you out, play with pace and have a dual-threat quarterback in Nick Marshall who can attack the Tide deep with his arm and make it happen on the read-option or when the play breaks down.

You don't rush for 296 yards against Alabama like Auburn last season by accident. Tide senior right tackle Austin Shepherd can say Auburn "got lucky" on the game's final play when Chris Davis returned a missed field goal 100 yards to pull off the shocker. What can also be said is Alabama's inability to stop the run greatly factored in the Tigers being in the position to win last year's Iron Bowl at the end.

The 15th-ranked Tigers have a prideful group of players and they aren't just going to lie down because they're out of the national title picture. Auburn should have extra motivation to win because a victory will likely knock Alabama out of playoff picture. The Tide is top the College Football Playoff poll.

You know what they say, misery loves company. Still, Auburn has too many defensive issues to win.

The Tigers are adequate against the run. They're allowing 142.5 yards rushing. If Alabama was primarily a running team, this game would play into Auburn's hands, but Alabama is just as comfortable using the pass to set up the run as it is running the ball to open up the passing game.

The Tide hasn't needed to run the ball well to win big games. Alabama ran for just 106 yards at LSU and 124 against Mississippi State, but came out of both games victorious.

Stopping the pass is a different story for the Tigers.

Auburn is 12th in the SEC pass defense and tied for 10th in sacks with Arkansas. So the Tigers not only have problems covering receivers, they aren't getting to the quarterback, either.

This plays into Alabama's hands.

With Lane Kiffin calling the plays, Alabama starts its offensive attack with the nation's top receiver, Amari Cooper. With 90 catches for 1,349 yards and 11 touchdowns this season, Cooper opens up the game for tailbacks T.J. Yeldon, Derrick Henry and the rest of the offense. So Auburn has no other choice but to make a concerted effort to contain Cooper.

If the Tigers somehow neutralize Cooper, they still must deal with the running game and the biggest individual surprise in college football – Blake Sims.

The fifth-year senior has emerged as the quarterback Nick Saban has never had in his eight seasons at Alabama. Auburn defensive back Robenson Therezie said Sims manages games for Alabama.

Sims also changes games. He's completed 62.1 percent of his passes and thrown 20 touchdowns to only four interceptions on 301 attempts. Then when the play collapses, Sims has made defenses pay with key scrambles for first downs to keep drives alive. Alabama is tied for third in the nation in third-down conversions and Sims is big reason why the Tide has converted 52.8 percent of its third downs.

When you add it all up, that's a lot for a great defense to handle let alone one that's allowed an average of 472.2 yards of total offense and 22 touchdowns in its last five SEC games as Auburn has.

As far as defensively, Alabama should have learned its lesson from a year ago. If the Tide allows Auburn to run all over it in its stadium, I might see something I haven't seen in my time here in Montgomery.

Doubt Alabama will lose, but anything is possible — even when there's just one second left on the clock.

Duane Rankin is a columnist and sports reporter for the Advertiser. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin. He can be reached via email at dmrankin@gannett